Just the week before Christmas, a friend and I went to visit another friend who’s currently on a student’s exchange year in Edinburgh. To be honest, Scotland has never been high on my list of places I wanted to visit, but in the end, it turned out to be one of my favourite places I have been so far. I’ve always liked the United Kingdom, but I have never been a big fan of London, as I felt like something is missing there, especially when compared to Edinburgh. It’s a big city and a business and commerce hub, but, to me, it lacks a bit of flair, but this is just my personal opinion. (Sophie, on the other hand, loves London and it’s probably one of her favourite cities ever.)

Scotland, however, absolutely amazed me. We stayed for 6 days; so, the little guide I am writing today would be perfect for when you’re visiting Scotland for a week (then it’s not going to be as stressful as our first days, since we tried seeing as much as we could).

We spent our last 48 hours in Japan climbing the famous Mt. Fuji. The idea definitely was not mine, but when my friend suggested it, I immediately said 'yes'. I mean Mt. Fuji? That “hill”? Easily. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong. Even though the Fuji seems small, it is a 3774 m high mountain (the highest one Japan has to offer), closed for hikers during the winter months and still an active volcano. But by the time I realized what I had gotten myself into, it was already way too late. 

On the beginning of this blogpost I have to admit I was not sure how I should write it. Should I keep It quite general, so no one gets offended or thinks it’s too descriptive? Or should I stay true to myself and tell you in detail what I saw and heard, and what changed something inside of me? I want you to know what to expect when visiting these cities, so I decided to stay true and tell you about the most important heart-breaking parts of history we as human being should all be aware of. I can’t tell you about these beautiful cities without talking about the horrors their residents have lived through in the past (also, since we have already written about Pearl Harbor and the other side of the story in Sophie’s Hawaii series). Despite all that, I think it’s important to highlight how much has changed and why they are definitely worth a visit.

Despite falling in love with Tokyo the moment we arrived, we had to move on in order to see more of this beautiful country. We stayed in Japan for two and a half weeks and our plan was, of course, to see as much as possible. We went westward and intended to spend about 4 days in Kyoto and Osaka before heading on to Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Traveling Japan is really easy as they offer various options, including night busses, an excellent railway system (more on that and the Japan Rail Pass later) and so on.

We’re so glad you loved Sophie’s Hawaii-series, so now it’s my turn to tell you all about what, most definitely, can be considered the best trip of my life – so far. On 17th of July 2017 one of my closest friends and I boarded a plane in Munich (because, just like we have already told you, it’s the closest bigger airport to Innsbruck); that’s the beginning of an an 18-hour-long journey, with a quick-stop in Abu Dhabi, that would take us to Tokyo Narita. We have both travelled a lot in our lives and can assure you: Japan’s border control has to be one of the nicest and quickest you’ll ever come across.

This week, I went to Edinburgh with a friend to visit a friend who’s studying there for a year. It is my first time in Scotland, but definitely not my last one. Even though the journey to Scotland was a rough one, due to flight delay and storm during touchdown, we decided to go to the Christmas market right away after dropping of our bags and also during the rest of our stay we went there nearly every day until now. 

The same day the idea for Alps and Abroad was born, we also came up and started planning our biggest trip so far. We're not sure what came up first - you could say one thing lead to the other. We were just talking about different kinds of trips we want to go on in the future and all of the things we want to see and discover. Very quickly, all sorts of ideas started to come together into one: Why not fly to America and go on a big road trip through the North-West of the USA? Why not take about 4 to 5 weeks off next summer and visit most of the national parks and big cities on the west coast? We know that trips like this one require a lot of precise planning and preparations, so we started right away. We also want to bring you along with us and show you how to bring a project like this to life and what to do and what not to do when planning a trip like this.